Not dead yet: AT&T must continue to offer landline services in California

AT&T must continue to offer landline telephone service in California after the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) rejected the company’s request to discontinue that service.

AT&T has been designated as a carrier of last resort (COLR) in the state since 1996, meaning the company is committed to providing affordable and reliable phone service to its customers. This requirement is designed to ensure that telecommunications companies don’t move out of an area entirely, leaving residents without access to emergency services and other things that a phone line provides.

As Ars Technica reports, AT&T had asked to be relieved of its duties earlier this year, citing the availability of cell phones and VoIP. However, the CPUC denied the request, saying, “AT&T failed to demonstrate that there are substitute carriers willing and able to serve as COLR.”

AT&T claims that maintaining the copper lines used in some rural areas of California is too expensive.

In its rejection, the Commission stated: “The COLR rules are technology-neutral and do not distinguish between the voice services offered – such as Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), commonly known as landline service, or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) – and do not prevent AT&T from retiring copper lines or investing in fiber optic or other facilities/technologies to improve its network.”

The Commission also says: “AT&T’s public arguments create the impression that the Commission’s COLR rules require AT&T to maintain outdated, copper-based wireline facilities that are expensive to maintain,” the ruling says. “Or that AT&T needs the Commission’s approval to retire copper facilities and invest instead in more modern technologies such as VoIP, wireless and fiber optics. These arguments are not accurate.”

The CPUC denied AT&T’s request with reservations, preventing the company from filing a similar request for at least a year.